Tigers and Karate!

[I:http://www.uniquearticlewizard.com/extras/pics/bowzerimage10.jpg] You shouldn’t try to eat anything that’s got bigger teeth than you. When it comes to words of wisdom I know that isn’t much, but there is a certain undeniable truth here. Especially when a student offers the complaint that he is tired.

“Al, I’m too tired to continue.” Observing the youngster I knew that he wasn’t really tired, he was just being a bit childish. The that he had chosen to do so right in the middle of my karate class was, however, a problem.

When one of these hopes for our future stops my class for such foolishness I am not particularly pleased. I am suddenly beset by the desire to pick up that large stick with a nail in it that I keep in the corner of my dojo and…but I don’t. Instead, I make them listen to the story of the tiger, which is an interesting tale from another culture.

One day two monks were traveling through the jungle to distant temple. One monk was old and the other one was young. “I’m tired,” the younger whined, “can’t we stop?”

“Not yet,” said the older monk. The old monk moved a little faster. He wasn’t in the mood to hear complaints from the younger generation.

“I can’t go on. I’m too tired to walk. I’m stopping,” and the younger monk sat down at the side of the trail and began to fan himself.

“We’ll never make it to the next temple if you insist on stopping. Get up and let’s continue!” The older monk commanded the younger man, but his words had no effect.

“No way. I’m just too tired to go on!” The younger monk fanned himself tiredly.

The older monk, seeing a tiger sleeping in the bamboo, picked up a rock and threw it at the tiger. The tiger jumped up and chased the two monks. The monks ran like…well…like a tiger was after them.

The monks managed to get away from the tiger. When they were safe the younger one turned to the older monk. “Why’d you do that?”

The older monk chuckled, then began to laugh outright. “I thought you said you were too tired to walk?” The younger monk had no rejoinder in the face of such superior wisdom, and he began to laugh, too.

There is a bit of wisdom to be had from such a story as this. The monks, you see, were running for their very lives. The tiger, on the other hand was only running for a little dinner.

Which brings us to my words of wisdom. Do you treat every day like it is a run for your life? Or do you pretend everything has bigger teeth than you?

And the child in my class who complains about being tired? After I tell him the story about the tiger…if he still complains about being tired I get out the stick. And it really does a have a nail in it!